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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24715033">lifeboat</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/aghostlywonderland/pseuds/aghostlywonderland'>aghostlywonderland</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Heathers: The Musical - Murphy &amp; O'Keefe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 00:40:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>409</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24715033</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/aghostlywonderland/pseuds/aghostlywonderland</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>- it's not calm today, nowhere near.</p><p>Heather steps over the edge of her lifeboat.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>lifeboat</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>first of all, i would like to apologise. the title of this in my google docs is "i wish i didn't have this idea".<br/>secondly, this work is centred on suicide so take this as a massive trigger warning and keep yourself safe.</p><p>xx kyla</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>She felt it tip, just a little, when she met Veronica. She was electric, if that makes sense, too loud, too clever, too herself for her own good. But even then, before she could feel it properly, a ripple, the tiniest wave, another body to weigh them down, pull her ever closer to the surface of the water.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When Heather and the boys di- left them, it didn’t get any lighter. Heavier, if anything. Because Heather Duke was suddenly twice, five times, twenty times bigger, towering, a constant shadow, telling her everything she’s doing wrong. Irony is twisted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sometimes, the sea is calm. She sits quietly in the center of her little boat, the crowd spaced enough to let her breathe. The sunset over the ocean is nice, when she can see the sun past the storms constantly gathering on the horizon. But other times it’s dark as night in the middle of the day, lit only by the cracks of lightning, claps of thunder drowning out the yelling for just a second, rain pelting her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The bottom’s never dry anymore, every wave, however tiny, splashing more and more water over the side, and that means they sink lower, and on and on and on and her ankles haven’t been dry in more than a week. But she’s still there, they’re still, impossibly, afloat.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s not calm today, nowhere near, waves tossing the boat around like a plaything, people screaming, water to the middle of her calves. But she just had to rock it, didn’t she?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’re so scared, pushing and shoving and fighting, and she can barely get through them to the side.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She takes her shoes off, holding them in one hand, peels off her soaking socks, shrugs off her blazer, air just as freezing as she thought it would be. Looking over her shoulder, they’re all too caught up with each other to even see her, even the girl in blue distracted for a moment. Hopefully she’ll know how sorry she is. Don’t dwell on anyone else. This is right. This the only way it ever could have ended, it’d be insane to believe anything else. The water’s colder than the air, and dipping one foot in makes her flinch, but this is right. She breathes in deep, and steps over the edge. It hurts, but this is right. She’s terrified now, but this is right.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This is right.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Someone pulls her out of the water.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hope you liked it! if you did, let me know- it would make my day! :) you can find me on instagram @kylawoodarts</p></blockquote></div></div>
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